How To Succeed and Get Back on Your Feet: 15 Inspirational Quotes

It is inevitable. You are going to fall down. We all do. It’s impossible to completely avoid. But you don’t have to stay down. You can get back on your feet.

While physical falls are problematic, most often the falls that are the hardest to get up from are mental or emotional. It may be a health setback that hits you hard. A new business venture or product idea may not pan out. The relationship you were in may have stopped moving forward.

Whatever the cause of the fall, the solution is the same – get back up.

When troubles hit, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and like you can’t go on. Sometimes all you need is a little inspiration to get you back on your feet again. This post features 15 motivational quotes to help get you back up and running.

1. Cracks Are Part of the Process

“One small crack does not mean you are broken. It means you were put to the test and you didn’t fall apart.” – Linda Poindexter

When trials come along our road to success, it may feel like it has cracked our inner being. A crack does not need to lead to a total collapse.

Some oriental cultures have an amazing thought process when it comes to cracks. When a porcelain vase or cup is cracked, rather than discard the damaged item, the crack is frequently filled with gold.

The crack becomes a thing of beauty. The item is made unique and improved because of the damage that was done to it. The weakness becomes the focal point of new strength.

You are no different.

Things along the way will knock you down, but they don’t have to destroy you. Fill your cracks with gold, and get back on your feet. That strength will shine and resonate with the people around you.

2. Happiness Requires Action

“Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action.”– Benjamin Disraeli

Staying down will never lead to happiness or success. There is no guarantee that getting up will make you happy, but not getting up guarantees you won’t have the chance.

When you put forth the effort to improve things, whether your physical or mental health, you open the door to new opportunities. Each new opportunity has the potential for greatness.

There is a woman we will call Emily that was devastated for years that she couldn’t find a good husband. She let her devastation make her isolated. Rarely did she go out with friends, and being home alone so frequently lead to comfort-food binge eating and serious weight gain.

One day Emily took a look in the mirror and realized what she was doing. She didn’t like what she had become and decided to change. The gold she inserted in her cracked soul was the decision to get in shape. Her desire wasn’t to be appealing to men or to impress anyone. Rather, she felt that she owed it to herself to improve and get back to who she wanted to be.

“It’s not about the race”

Within six months, Emily participated in her first marathon. She didn’t win. In fact, she walked most of the route. There was no chance of her winning, but crossing that finish line was an immense victory for her.

Along the route, she met other runners that were also competing in their first marathon. Those brief introductions went on to become strong friendships with people that had similar goals.

Emily competes in several marathons a year now. She has never won a race, but she is fit and trim and hard to keep up with.

“It’s not about the race,” she told me recently. “It’s about the friends that run alongside me. I don’t think I’ve ever been happier.”

3. Movement Produces Balance

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” – Albert Einstein

Have you ever ridden a bike? It’s a bit of a risky endeavor if you really think about it. Most of us were taught to ride as children, and that was probably the best time to learn. If we waited to learn until we were adults, we might have feared that balancing on two thin wheels was impossible.

Amazingly, once that bike is in motion, everything changes. Keeping the bicycle upright is almost effortless after a little practice.

In order to have balance in life, forward movement is also required. Lives become most unbalanced when you fall down and refuse to get back up. Stagnation sets in and your mind becomes stuck in a dark and lonely moment.

Learn from a bike. Go for a ride if you haven’t recently. Many parks rent them if you don’t have one of your own. Let the experience remind you why balance requires forward movement.

If you never learned to ride, have someone teach you. It might seem a bit scary at first, but it is one of the easiest things to master.

4. It’s Okay to Cry

At times, the reason we do not get back up from a fall is that we don’t want to acknowledge the fall. If we ignore the fact that a relationship ended, we don’t have to deal with it. Not admitting we’re depressed means we’re not, right?

Ignoring something won’t make it go away. Instead, you will become trapped and unable to start again.

Own the failure, whether it is business or personal. Allow yourself to mourn the end of a possibility. It’s okay to cry, even for men. Crying tends to be very cathartic and releases pain and frustration in the process.

After the tears, forgive yourself or the person that caused the fall. Then get back up and move forward.

5. Be Patient and Let It Go

“Be strong enough to let go, and patient enough to wait for what you deserve.”– Simone Thiel

The most painful falls often include relationships ending. Keep in mind, the end of a relationship is not always a bad thing. Sometimes the other person is toxic or less than you deserve.

Don’t settle just because you think you might not be able to do better.

Emily, mentioned above, got so busy with training and running in marathons that she almost stopped thinking about dating entirely. There was a man in her new running circle, and she clicked well with him but had no thoughts of dating.

Over the course of two years, that friendship blossomed into something amazing, and they are now married. Emily was patient and got what she deserved. Her strength in letting go of her despair opened the door to a relationship she would have never found sitting home alone.

6. Not Every Year is the Same

“Remember: There are years that ask questions, and years that answer.” – Zora Neale Hurston

The year 1995 was particularly bad for me. My business failed due to market changes, and my health nose-dived. Sleep became near impossible until I finally had to be hospitalized.

That was a terrible year filled with whys. Why did I have bipolar? Why did my business have to fail? Why was I not married? Why? Why? Why?

Fortunately, 1995 ended, and to this day, it is still probably the worst year of my life. The following year, things started to fall into place. I fell into a new career path that I would never have considered prior to my business failing. New friendships were forged that continue to be the basis of my stability today.

Has this been a particularly bad year for you? Take heart, the year will end. Another year will likely bring the answers you are searching for. Hold on and get back up.

7. Build The New

“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” – Socrates

Bad things happen. It’s an unfortunate fact of life. Occasionally things will come along that knock you off your feet.

One of the best ways to get back up is to change your focus. If you are stuck thinking about yesterday and what went wrong, you will stay immovably placed in yesterday.

On the other hand, if you change your focus and decide to focus on building something new, everything else will change as well. It becomes easier to get back up because you don’t have the weight holding you down. Rather, the thrill of creating something produces its own energy and momentum.

For me, I am focusing on building this blog. My hope is to help end the stigmas associated with mental illness. Men especially need to start talking about their mental health, and my mission is to help move things in that direction.

Having my blog to focus on gets me up in the morning. It inspires me to keep writing content that will hopefully resonate with someone who needs to read it.

What do you want to build? Put your dream into action and start building today. Get back on your feet and get to work.

8. Don’t Stress If You Are a Disaster Right Now

“Every master was once a disaster.” – David T.S. Wood

Economic and emotional blows can leave you feeling like a heap of rubble. Looking at the destruction around you, it may feel like any possibility of success is entirely unachievable.

This is one of my favorite quotes. I have been a disaster more than once. In 1995, everything in my life fell apart. It would have been very easy, and in fact, I almost did end things. I will forever be grateful to the friends who came to my rescue and helped get me through that awful time.

My life now is far from perfect, but I am mostly happy and a productive, functional member of society. I am able to provide encouragement and strength to others and provide for myself materially. Excellent friends still color my life.

Are you a disaster right now? That’s okay. At this moment, there are millions of people in a similar condition.

The greatest thing about a disaster, though, is the ability to start over. If a building crumbles to the ground, then a new building can be built. In the new construction, you have the ability to change the things you didn’t like about the prior building.

If everything is in ruins, clear away the rubble and get back up. Start building the life, relationship or business that will be better than what you had before.

9. Be Content With What You Have Now

“The happiest people don’t have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything they have.”– Judith May

A common pin you may see frequently on Pinterest says something to the effect of, “Be thankful for the things you have today that you prayed for yesterday.”

It is too easy to become fixated on the things we don’t have. This is especially true when circumstances knock you to the ground.

Not only do each of us have things that we were hoping for not long ago, our lives are filled with things that lots of other people are now praying to have.

Do you have a roof over your head and a comfortable place to sleep? Are you wearing clothing that is appropriate to your climate? Is there food in the refrigerator and shoes on your feet? Then you have much to be happy about.

One Mother’s Example

Some time ago, I watched a documentary about life in a poor country. I apologize, but I cannot remember what country. I’m inclined to think it was Africa.

Part of the documentary told the story of a hard-working, widowed mother that was doing everything she could to provide for her family. She spent up to 16 hours a day working in fields and often at the pay of only $1 US per day.

What I found especially heartbreaking was that the family raised guinea pigs. In that area, guinea pigs are used for food by many people. However, her family didn’t eat the guinea pigs because they desperately needed the little bit of income that their sale produced. In fact, most days, she and her children survived on little more than a cup of rice and some vegetables.

Yet, through it all, the mother and her children were smiling. They had each other and appreciated that they could raise the guinea pigs, that their mother had the health to work in the fields. Some of their neighbors had much less.

Is your stomach full right now? Are you sitting in a comfortable home? Do you own the device you are using to read this post? That’s three reasons right there to be happy. I’m sure you can think of many more.

10. Be Nice to Yourself

“Be nice to yourself. It’s hard to be happy when someone is mean to you all the time.”– Christine Arylo

It’s easy to see the need to end a relationship when the other person is consistently critical or mean. You may even quit a job or change career fields because of people that are difficult to work with.

To add insult to injury, we may belittle ourselves after a fall. Blame and guilt may fuel such negative self-talk.

Just like you would protect yourself from another person, protect yourself from you. Recognize what you are doing and make a whole-hearted effort to change. When negative thoughts bombard you about not being good enough or about failing, say, “Stop!” Saying it out loud is even more effective.

If you can’t be nice to yourself, you can’t expect anyone else to be. It’s time to be your own force for good. Be kind and protect yourself. Get back up. You are much better than you are telling yourself right now.

11. Imagine That You Can

“As long as a man imagines that he cannot do a certain thing, so long… is it impossible for him to do it.”– Baruch (Benedict) Spinoza

Imagination is a powerful force that we underutilize as we get over. It has the strength to both do tremendous good or irreparable harm.

Cancer is perhaps the most insidious of diseases. Often for some unknown reason, the body attacks itself and malignant tumors form. Left unchecked, it spreads and takes over and destroys the body.

There is an interesting fact about cancer survives though. Oncologists frequently note that even more important than the treatment options is the patient’s belief that they can survive. Once they convince themselves that they cannot, they seldom last long.

It may seem like an oversimplification to say there is power in positive thinking. Negatively thinking about ourselves is like cancer and will destroy our minds and motivation.

Yes, maybe whatever you were doing failed. You have fallen down and things are messy. Believe that you can make things better and get back up. You are already halfway to success.

12. Don’t Stay On The Ground

One Sunday morning I heard a Bible talk where the speaker asked the question, “If you fell down in the parking lot this morning, how long would you have laid there?”

It might seem like a ridiculous rhetorical question but really think about it for a moment. Unless we were seriously injured, most of us would immediately jump up and pretend like we had never fallen.

Why do we think that it should be different for other types of falls? Because it was an emotional fall, that means it’s okay to keep laying there?

Of course not.

If you need a day to have a pity party, go ahead. Sometimes you can get much-needed validation from a pity party. No party lasts forever, though. If you partied yesterday, get your butt up today and get back to the business of living.

13. Bounce Well

“Life is not about how fast you run or how high you climb but how well you bounce.”– Vivian Komori

This quote brings to mind visions of Tigger from Winnie the Pooh. Tigger is ever positive and knows the value of being able to bounce.

In a physical fall, we were not designed to bounce well. For all other falls, we can control our bouncing ability.

It can’t be said often enough. Bad things will happen. Starting a blog, launching a business, or beginning a relationship – all will have bumps and bruises along the way. Mental health issues particularly will throw constant stumbling blocks in your way.

Be determined to bounce. Summon your inner Tigger.

14. You Don’t Fall to the Top of a Mountain

“The man at the top of the mountain didn’t fall there.”– Vince Lombardi

It’s easy to envy the person that achieves success and tell ourselves that success was handed to them. That is rarely true.

Erik Weihenmayer was recently featured on The View. If you have never heard of him, click his name to learn a little about his amazing story. When he was not even 16 months old, he was diagnosed with juvenile retinoschisis, a condition the left him completely blind by his mid-teens.

Erik hoped to be a teacher. Getting his teaching degree was a challenge he met head-on. Unfortunately, that was only the beginning of his battles. Most people thought that there was no way he could be an effective teacher, at least not of teenagers, if he could not see them.

He was not to be deterred. In fact, Erik wanted to prove that not only could he be an effective teacher, but he could also accomplish things that most other people never would. That includedconquering seven mountains, with Mount Everest being his crowning jewel.

No one can say that Erik had success handed to him. Instead, he devoted every day to building himself into the best version of him he could be. You can do the same.

15. Never Give Up

“Survival can be summed up in three words – never give up. That’s the heart of it really. Just keep trying.”– Bear Grylls

If you have hung in with me this far, thank you. I did not intend this post to be so long. However, I purposely saved one of my favorite quotes for last.

No matter what it is that knocked you down, three words are all you need to remember – Never. Give. Up.

Everything in this world is temporary, and that includes whatever it was that caused you to fall. Your world might be dark as midnight right now. Tomorrow everything may look entirely different. The only way you will know is if you hold on until you get there.

This quote especially applies to all my fellow mental illness warriors. Not all days will be bad. Get back up. Hold on until the good days come.

If you enjoyed this post, please pin it on Pinterest or share it on social media. Thank you!

Are you a psychologist? What sound advice you offer!. Your advise to the broken soul is so functional. I like when you said cry, forgive, learn move on. It is a principle I practice. When you you forgive you free yourself to learn and empower yourself to move on

I’ve recently been diagnosed with Bipolar Depression and reading this kind of made me cry. Everything here is acurate and I can related. This is a wonderful post and thank you for posting this. I’ve bookmarked it so I can reread in the future.

I’m slowly starting to work my way back up after quite the fall (thanks, crappy health). But things are finally starting to seem to go uphill. Anyway, I really needed to read this. I have a really hard time to not being too hard on myself, so that really stuck out to me. Thank you.

I love this post! You really found some amazing quotes to help people through hurtles in their lives. I took screenshots of several of them. I completely related to the one that said, “there are years that ask questions, and there are years that answer.” I’m having a year that is asking a lot of questions. I look forward to reading more!

I can’t agree more with number 9. If everyone practises thankfulness, we’ll be that much happier. Most nights before bed, I’ll list 5 things I’m grateful for on that day. It makes a difference in my attitude.

What a wonderful read. I definitely resonated with this post and loved your advice. We all fall down, more often than we would like and I can definitely vouch for not always wanting to get back up but it is always necessary. Thank for the reminder!

These are wonderful tips for anyone who has ever or will ever, face hardships in their life. This post is definitely inspirational and is much needed for me. I tend to overthink things, except during the times when my overthinking is needed.

Great list of quotes, I love the one about being content now with what you have…. I think especially with running my own business, I want to see results right away, but learning to be patient like you also mentioned is part of the process.

Very inspirational. Especially after experiencing a tough year or two in 2014 and 2015. You don’t fall up a mountain. I will remember that quote. You bring hope here. Keep writing. Blessed to have you on Twitter.

Let’s stay in touch!

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